INSTREAM · Winter ‘17 Newsletter Stream of Consciousness: Giving Thanks for the ... streamflows in Oregon’s rivers for fish, wildlife, and the people who depend on healthy rivers

Chewaucan River by Greg Shine, U.S. Bureau of Land Management

INSTREAMWinter ‘17 Newsletter

Stream of Consciousness: Giving Thanks for the Women of WaterWatch By John DeVoe, Executive Director

Women have, in many crucial ways,

been the driving force for WaterWatch

and for river conservation in Oregon.

Women have always provided

critical leadership, vision, and strategic thinking for

WaterWatch – that is when they weren’t raising money,

securing landmark water policy reforms and protecting

and restoring the waters that we love in Oregon. As

I pause and give thanks this holiday season, I am

struck by the amazing women WaterWatch has been

so fortunate to be associated with over the years –

and the importance of their contributions to Oregon’s

waters. (Continued on page 3)

WHAT’S INSIDE

WaterWatch Welcomes ................................. 2

Appellate Victory for McKenzie River ............. 4

WaterWatch in the Community ...................... 5

Judge Denies Irrigators Special Treatment, Millions in Payments ..................................... 6

Water Briefs from Around the State ............... 7

Take Action: Willamette Basin Fish Need Water Too! ........ 10

Staff » Lisa Brown

Staff Attorney

» John DeVoe Executive Director

» Nancy Drinnon Comptroller

» James Frazier Legal Assistant

» Brian Posewitz Staff Attorney

» Kimberley Priestley Senior Policy Analyst

» Molly Whitney Development Director

» Jim McCarthy Communication Director & Southern Oregon Program Manager

» Preston Korst Development and Program Assistant

» Jack Dempsey Contract Lobbyist

Board of Directors » Mary Lou Soscia

President » Matt Deniston

Secretary » Jerry Brown

Treasurer » Karl Anuta » Margaret Bowman

» Jeff Curtis » Jean Edwards » Bob Hunter » Lynn Palensky » Jeff Perin » Dean Runyan » Bryan Sohl » Mary Scurlock

WaterWatch of Oregon publishes Instream three times annually.

Jim McCarthy, Editor

Portland Office213 SW Ash St., Suite 208 Portland, OR 97204 T: (503) 295-4039

Southern Oregon OfficeP.O. Box 261 Ashland, OR 97520 T: (541) 708-0731

WaterWatch’s mission is to protect and restore streamflows in Oregon’s rivers for fish, wildlife, and the people who depend on healthy rivers.

WaterWatch Welcomes Board Member Mary Scurlock

Mary Scurlock of M. Scurlock & Associates and formerly

of Pacific Rivers Council has become WaterWatch’s

newest board member. Mary has spent much of her

professional life as an advocate for the environment and

for rivers across the west. She started her career as an

associate at the Eugene land-use law firm Johnson &

Kloos. From 1991 through 2012, Mary gained extensive

experience on forest and water issues as an advocate

for freshwater ecosystem conservation at Pacific Rivers

Council. She then left as head of their policy team to

become an independent freshwater policy consultant.

Mary is an inactive member of the Oregon State Bar, a

former Oregon League of Conservation Voters board

member, and co-founder of RiverPAC of Oregon (2015).

We are thrilled to have Mary join us!

2 « WaterWatch of Oregon

(Stream of Consciousness: Giving Thanks... Continued from page 1)

Strong women were there at the beginning for WaterWatch – and have been there throughout our 32 year history. For about two thirds of WaterWatch’s existence, women have served as president of the board. And it shows. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Audrey Jackson Simmons for her role in recognizing the need for a change agent like WaterWatch and, with Tom Simmons, launching the organization. Audrey’s vision and organizing skills created the first real water policy reform initiative in the West. Our board has always benefitted from women who can lead and get things done from the front. Audrey Jackson Simmons, Nancy “Ned” Duhnkrack, Lynn Palensky and now Mary Lou Soscia have also all served as president of the board. The organization has thrived and grown under their individual brands of leadership. Each of their tenures as board president is filled with landmark conservation successes for Oregon’s rivers. Importantly, these women have made WaterWatch an inclusive place to work for women.

Other board members like farmer and biologist Jean Edwards, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse, lawyer Elizabeth Wright and lawyer, consultant, and river conservationist Margaret Bowman have also provided essential resources, expertise, relationships, and strategic thinking that benefitted WaterWatch and Oregon’s waters. Now our newest board member, water and forestry expert Mary Scurlock, adds to the legacy of strong and effective service by women on the WaterWatch board.

WaterWatch’s policy staff has also been largely female over the years. Karen Russell, Kimberley Priestley, and Lisa Brown have all provided the formidable legal and negotiation skills and the water law expertise needed to protect and restore streamflows and to secure the balanced water policies Oregon so desperately needs. As WaterWatch lawyers and water policy specialists, each of these women has created a legacy of healthy

freshwater habitat in different parts of the state. Just recently, Lisa secured an Oregon appellate court victory protecting over 22 million gallons of cold water each day on the McKenzie River. Though she would never tell you this herself, there are few attorneys who can match her record of victory in Oregon’s appellate courts. Karen, a fearless litigator, went to the mat with some of the largest corporations in the world to temper the impacts of giant development proposals that would have harmed the Columbia River. Kimberley has negotiated landmark reforms and protected cold water habitat across Oregon from tiny desert stream strongholds for Lahontan Cutthroat Trout to the Deschutes River. Rivers need water, yes, but they also need good lawyers and policy specialists.

Finally, none of this work can be done without the funding and infrastructure that makes it possible. Betty Brickson took the early communications and outreach oar and built the WaterWatch newsletter from scratch. Molly Whitney has taken development and engagement at WaterWatch to a new level, extending and building upon earlier efforts to diversify WaterWatch’s funding started by Molly Baer Kramer. Their passion for Oregon’s rivers over the years made it possible to fund landmark conservation successes. Take WaterWatch’s annual auction. Molly Kramer got the show started. Molly Whitney has taken it to new heights. And after the fundraising, we can count on Nancy Drinnon to track every penny accurately.

This holiday season, I’m thankful for the strong women who have given so much to Oregon’s rivers and WaterWatch. They are amazingly committed and effective people. If, in a century, Oregon has coldwater habitat for salmon and trout along with healthy aquifers and healthy wetlands, these women all deserve a big chunk of the credit. They have made the West a better place – for fish and wildlife, yes, but also for the people who depend on healthy waters.

WaterWatch of Oregon » 3

Appellate Victory for McKenzie River November 16th brought great news for a river prized by

anglers, boaters, and nature enthusiasts from around the

world. The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a final order

denying the Willamette Water Company’s controversial

application for a permit to withdraw 34 cubic feet per

second (22 million gallons per day) from the McKenzie

River.

WaterWatch sparked the review process by challenging

the permit application in March of 2010. Since then,

thanks to your support, we have been there every step

of the way to defend the

McKenzie against this

harmful proposal.

Under Oregon law,

Oregon’s waters belong to

the public – not to private

water companies hoping

to profit by monopolizing

the resource for future sale.

Despite this, Willamette

Water Company proposed

to lock up a large amount

of McKenzie River water,

but failed to identify any

committed customers,

could not complete the

water development project

in the time allowed, and

failed to apply for needed

land use approvals for

developing the water

project. The company

also challenged the fish

protection conditions

recommended by the

Oregon Department of Fish

and Wildlife and proposed

by the Oregon Water

Resources Department.

In 2014, the Oregon

“WaterWatch has acted as a watchdog for Oregonians, making sure their rights are protected and preserved.” Photo by David Merwin


IN THE NEWSThe Eugene Register-Guard saluted WaterWatch’s

advocacy for the McKenzie River in a November 17th

editorial:

“Oregon’s water supply is precious and deserves

the safeguards that have been put in place by the

Legislature, enforced by the commission and upheld

by the courts. Strong defenses are needed to protect

this resource for the benefit of this and future

generations.

WaterWatch has acted as a watchdog for Oregonians,

making sure their rights are protected and

preserved.”

Read the rest of the editorial

at registerguard.com

WaterWatch in the Community

WaterWatch…

… Tabled at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Ashland

… Presented on two panels at the Oregon Water Law Conference in Portland

… Tabled at the Irvington Tennis Club Non-Profit Night in Portland

… Guest lectured on water policy to undergraduates at Oregon State University in Corvallis

… Spoke about the practice of water law to a class at the University of Oregon Law School

Wild and Scenic Film Festival by Rogue Riverkeeper

Water Resources Commission found that Willamette

Water Company’s proposal was illegal because the

company was attempting to tie up a large block of water

for undefined future sale, rather than proposing to use

the water beneficially as required by law, and because

the company had failed to apply for needed land use

approvals for its project. The appellate court agreed with

the Commission that the permit had been properly denied

because the company could not develop the permit in a

timely manner.

The permit application drew considerable local media

attention and inspired community concern regarding one

of the public’s most valuable resources – water – in one

of the state’s most iconic waterways. The McKenzie’s

renowned beauty, along with the fish and wildlife it

supports, in turn sustain jobs and economic activity in the

region. The company now has the option to seek review

in the Oregon Supreme Court. If they do, WaterWatch will

be there to defend the McKenzie.


Judge Denies Irrigators Special Treatment, Millions in PaymentsOn September 29th, Judge Marian Blank Horn of the

U.S. Court of Claims ruled against agribusiness interests

within the federal Klamath Irrigation Project that had been

demanding some $30 million in compensation for reduced

irrigation water deliveries during an extreme drought that

struck the Klamath River Basin in 2001. WaterWatch

participated as amicus in support of our conservation and

fishing allies who intervened.

Though other groups in the Klamath Basin of Oregon and

California suffered during the 2001 drought – including

Tribal Nations, the salmon fishing industry, and farmers

outside of the Klamath Project – Klamath Project irrigation

interests wanted a special payout to compensate them

for a federal decision to leave some water in the Klamath

River and Upper Klamath Lake for imperiled salmon and

other fish.

Judge Horn ruled that The Klamath Tribes’ rights to the

water were superior to the agribusiness interests, and

that the amount of water needed to maintain those tribal

rights was at least as much as was needed to meet the

requirements of the federal Endangered Species Act to

save fish.

The $30 million in compensation requested by the

irrigators would have been in addition to the approximately

$40 million in state and federal relief provided to Klamath

agribusiness interests immediately after the 2001 drought.

In an appalling twist, irrigation interests involved in this

case were recently found by federal investigators to

have missappropriated $32.2 million in taxpayer funds

intended to help struggling fish and wildlife between 2008

and 2015. Although these findings were backed up by a

report submitted to the White House by the U.S. Office

of Special Counsel, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has

refused to hold anyone to account. Even worse, Oregon’s

U.S. Senators Wyden and Merkley have remained mum

on the issue while inserting language in the 2017 Senate

Energy Bill to reactivate the taxpayer funding pipeline to

Klamath irrigators which was shut down in early 2016

once federal whisteblower complaints brought rampant

waste and abuse to light. WaterWatch and our allies are

opposing this legislation – and you can too by visiting the

“Take Action!” section at waterwatch.org.

Meanwhile, the basin’s fundamental problem remains:

too much water has been promised to too many interests.

This imbalance will continue to cause serious harm to

Klamath fish and wildlife as well as all the communities

that depend on the Klamath River until we bring the basin’s

demand for water into balance with what nature can

provide. With your support, WaterWatch will continue our

longstanding work to help achieve agency accountability

and a sustainable water future in the Klamath.

Refuge staff collect dead birds during the 2014 waterfowl kill in the Klamath Basin. Photo by Nate Schweber


Water Briefs From Around the State

Victory for Oxbow Springs, and Oregon’s Public Waters

In a major victory for the protection of Oregon’s public

waters, multinational giant Nestle’s plan to bottle water

from an important cold water spring in the Columbia Gorge

has gone down to defeat. On October 27th, citing costs to

taxpayers, Governor Brown asked the Oregon Department

of Fish and Wildlife to withdraw the water right exchange

application necessary for Nestle to obtain water from

Oxbow Springs in the Herman Creek watershed.

In Nestle’s complicated scheme, the Department had

agreed to exchange to the City of Cascade Locks part of a

spring-fed water right used to operate a state-run salmon

hatchery. The City would then have sold that water to

Nestle. Although Cascade Locks has available surplus

water from a well, Nestle wanted the spring water.

Under Oregon law, all water within the state from all

sources of water supply belongs to the public. The water

code provides standards under which an applicant may

obtain a permit to use this public water. While issues

surrounding the bottled water industry drove much

opposition to Nestle’s scheme, allowing a public agency

to obtain a water right for a public purpose then sell it to

a private water bottling company would have undermined

Oregon’s water right system. Although the amount of

water at issue was relatively small, this is not acceptable.

All those who worked and who spoke out against the

Nestle scheme deserve to celebrate. It is also time to build

on this win by mobilizing to protect the other critical waters

flowing from Mt. Hood which are threatened by large scale

water withdrawals. These include the Clackamas River as

well as the West Fork of the Hood River and its important

cold water tributary Lake Branch Creek. Working together,

we can protect Oregon’s vital public waters.

Connect with WaterWatch on the Web!Learn more about our work, become a member, or sign up for RiverAction Alerts at waterwatch.org.

Follow us on Twitter @WaterWatchofOR

Join us on Instagram at WaterWatchofOregon

“Like” Us on Facebook!


Still a ways to go: Upper Deschutes River at Lava Falls flowing at 100cfs on October 23, 2017. Federal scientists acknowledge that long term, late fall and winter flows should not drop below 600cfs. Photo by Jim McCarthy

Agency Releases Biological Opinion for Water Management on Upper Deschutes River

This September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its biological opinion on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s proposed operation of Crane Prairie and Wickiup Dams for the next two years. These dams traditionally choke off late fall, winter, and early spring flows to the Upper Deschutes, causing devastating harm to native fish as well as the Oregon Spotted Frog, which is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Prior to a lawsuit brought by WaterWatch and the Center for Biological Diversity, the Upper Deschutes was managed more like an irrigation ditch than a river. Leading into each winter, water managers dropped the river down to twenty cubic feet per second, robbing it of 600 to 800 cubic feet per second of natural flow, which in turn killed large numbers of fish and left frog habitat high and dry.

In 2016 WaterWatch, the Center for Biological Diversity, Reclamation, and several irrigation districts reached an interim agreement to temporarily boost flows in the Upper Deschutes River to reduce harm to the spotted frog. The deal also required consultation with the Bureau on dam operations, on a timeline that is intended to result in the creation of a long-term, science-based plan by 2019 that will further reduce harm to the frogs.

WaterWatch is still assessing the Service’s biological opinion. Unfortunately, rather than moving forward on the significant flow restoration needed for Oregon Spotted Frog survival, the Service punted on requiring much-needed restoration now, in the hope that substantive change will occur under the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, which is due to be completed by July 2019.

The Service found that the proposed winter flows of only 100 cubic feet per second over the next two years will likely have adverse effects to the spotted frog and its critical habitat, but also stated that the proposal will not likely jeopardize the continued existence of the frog over the next two years. On the upside, the biological opinion details how irrigation practices in the Upper Deschutes devastated the frog and its habitat, which could help pave the way for a more robust Habitat Conservation Plan. Additionally, the biological opinion makes clear that the Service expects the eventual restoration of a winter flow minimum of 600 cubic feet per second in the Upper Deschutes. Whether this happens before the frogs go extinct on major portions of the Upper Deschutes due to irrigation practices in Central Oregon is the question.


Klamath Dam Removal Process Underway, WaterWatch Files to Intervene

In early 2016, two states, federal parties, and PacifiCorp salvaged the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement for the removal of four harmful and outdated dams on the mainstem Klamath River. J.C. Boyle, Copco I, Copco II, and Iron Gate dams cause profound damage to salmon populations and water quality. Their removal will be a boon for the many communities which depend upon the Klamath’s invaluable resources, help fulfill Native American fishing rights throughout the basin, and protect thousands of commercial and recreational salmon fishing jobs.

Previously, the dam removal agreement was held hostage for years to a separate, deeply-flawed water sharing deal which required passage of controversial and costly federal legislation. WaterWatch worked with conservation and tribal allies to oppose this wrongheaded linkage, raise support for moving dam removal forward, and end attempts to piggy-back bad water policy onto any dam removal deal. At long last, the dam removal process is now going forward without federal legislation, using state

and ratepayer funding provided under the settlement.

Paperwork filed on September 23, 2016 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission kicked off the formal removal process. If all goes as hoped, dam owner PacifiCorp will transfer the four dams to a newly formed private company known as the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which will then remove the structures. PacifiCorp will continue to operate these dams until they are decommissioned.

WaterWatch has intervened in this new process, which builds on the Klamath dam relicensing process we have actively participated in for over a decade, thanks to your support. We will continue to push for prompt removal of the four dams while working to ensure that instream flows thoughout and below the removal project meet the needs of fish and support the restoration of salmon and steelhead populations to the Oregon side of the Klamath Basin. Going forward, there will be opportunities for the public to weigh in with their support, so please stay tuned for updates.


Take Action: Willamette Basin Fish Need Water Too!Please Ask the Army Corps of Engineers to Give Fish the Water They Need from Willamette Basin Reservoirs

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released its

proposal to allocate water stored in Willamette Basin

reservoirs and is taking comments on the plan through

December 22. Your voice is needed! Please act now and

ask the Corps to give more water to fish and wildlife and to

prioritize threatened fish populations in low-water years.

The Corps operates 13 reservoirs in the Willamette Basin,

including well known reservoirs such as Detroit on the

North Santiam River, Cougar on the McKenzie River and

Lookout Point on the Middle Fork of the Willamette River.

Together the reservoirs can store up to 1.6 million acre feet

of water for release later in the year to help fish and satisfy

contracts for irrigation water. The Corps is in the process

of deciding how much of the stored water should go,

respectively, to fish and wildlife, irrigation, and municipal

and industrial uses in the 50-year period starting in 2020.

The Corps has proposed allocating 962,000 acre feet

to fish and wildlife, 254,000 to irrigation, and 73,000 to

municipal and industrial use. The remainder (300,000 acre

feet) will be unallocated for now. While that may sound

like a lot for fish and wildlife, the Corps’ analysis shows

it would not be enough to meet minimum flows set for

threatened salmon and steelhead in roughly a quarter of

the years. Meanwhile, the allocation to irrigation is more

than triple the amount currently used for that purpose, and

municipal and industrial suppliers would get their extra

water even though they already have significant unused

existing rights and would not be expected to increase

conservation to reduce future demands. Moreover, in low

water years when reservoirs don’t store enough to meet

all of the allocations, threatened fish would be required

to share the pain with other uses even though the flow

targets used to set their allocation were already reduced

for low water years.

Please email your comments to [email protected]

and tell the Corps:

• The allocation of stored water for fish and wildlife

needs to meet flow targets for threatened salmon and

steelhead more often.

• In low water years, threatened salmon and steelhead

need to take priority. Their survival is worth asking for

more conservation in irrigation and municipal uses,

especially since the flow targets already go down in

low water years to recognize that there is less water

for everyone.

Important: Per instructions from the Corps, please make

sure you include the following in your message:

- Public notice number: CENWP-PM-E-18-01

- Draft Willamette Basin Review Integrated Feasibility

Report and Environmental Assessment

- Issue date: November 7, 2017

Thank you for taking action for Oregon’s rivers!

Willamette River by Brian Posewitz


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INSTREAM · Winter ‘17 Newsletter Stream of Consciousness: Giving Thanks for the ... streamflows in Oregon’s rivers for fish, wildlife, and the people who depend on healthy rivers